


Set Him Free

by TotalFanFreak



Category: Blade (Movie Series)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood Drinking, Dhamphir, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Half Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 09:05:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10682124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TotalFanFreak/pseuds/TotalFanFreak
Summary: For the given majority of the time, Scud drove you crazy, but then there were other times where you had no idea what you felt for him.





	Set Him Free

**Set Him Free**

 

“Damn it! I mean it! Leave me alone before I tear you in half.”

You had been working on a mass of surveillance tapes for what had to be going on the twelfth hour, and now, on the last fucking four was when Scud had decided to make his debut. He was driving you up the wall, as he often did anyways, but he had been poking and prodding at you to come and eat with him for the last thirty minutes. Your focus was shot, probably missing half a dozen key details from the footage. You did your best to push the annoyance away, scooting closer to the computer.

“Come on, Y/N. You’ve sat here for hours, you gotta be hungry. I’ll even put up with your shitty taste in TV.”

You shut your eyes, breathing deep through your nose to steady yourself. It was times like this you severely regretted Eric bringing him here. Yes, Scud had many uses, yes, sometimes he made pretty good company, and, yes, it was nice he didn’t make any judgements about what the two of you were. From what you’ve seen he kind of worshipped Eric, often comparing him to Batman, only much more badass. He wasn’t afraid, a trait that awed you, but times like this you wanted to break his neck and drain him.

“Josh, I only have a few tapes to get through. I just want to finish them so I can shower and go to sleep. I haven’t slept in days.”

He rested his head on the desk, mumbling. “Haven’t eaten either.”

He stopped talking, allowing you to concentrate on the images. Eric had been sure Abe had been taken somewhere near this location, and after months of going through various sources across Europe you had your hopes high that this was it. You clicked around some more, feeling blue eyes piercing at you, hearing Scud give a few disdained sighs you got up from your seat.

“Fine! Let’s hurry up so I can finish this.”

You’d try not to admit it, but that boyish grin that spread on his face made your insides squirm.

“All right!”

Grabbing your arm, he dragged you from the away to the makeshift kitchen. He pulled a stool out for you, giving an over exaggerated bow before putting a cigarette in his mouth, stirring what was already smoking on the stove.

“I see you made assumptions about me dining with you.”

He grinned, the filter dangling from his lip as he spoke. “I know you can’t resist my charm.”

You scoffed, letting your head rest in your hand, watching him work. Scud nowhere near treated you like he did Eric, maybe it was because you looked close to his age, or that you were female, both of you childish you calling him Scuzzbucket on occasion as he called you Halfa. Even then you liked it, he made you feel human. A kind act, but it saddened you at the same time, knowing that’s all it would be.

“You know, if it anyone else talked to me that way, Scuzz, I’d have killed them a long time ago.”

His smiled stayed in place, eyes close to twinkling, as he spooned out what looked to be charred macaroni into bowls.

“I DO know. But I know you’d never hurt me, Y/N, you love me too much.”

The words hurt, maybe you did, you had never had any firsthand experience with that specific emotion. Hate, rage, depression, mania, paranoia, too many to count, but love had never been on the list. You wondered what exactly you felt for Scud – yeah, as much as you hated to say, you cared, you worried about him, he pissed you off a lot. But hearing that word from him, whatever it could be that you felt would never be reciprocated so there wasn’t any real reason to sort it all out. Without commenting you grabbed one of the bowls, falling onto a lumpy couch to turn on the TV. Clicking through you found one of the channels playing Scream, taking your mind off vampires and letting humans kill amongst themselves. You felt Scud sit down beside you, but you didn’t turn, jumping when his hand came in contact with yours, tugging the remote away from you.

“Excuse you, I was watching that.”

He had taken a bite of noodles, pushing it to the side of his cheek so he could talk. “Fuck that, Ed, Edd, and Eddy’s on, ‘sides how many times have you watched that?”

“Doesn’t matter, I got her first.”

He threw the remote in your lap, aggravated, setting his feet up on the worn coffee table before going back to his food.

“Fine, we’ll watch, but when the Powerpuffs come on we’re switching over.”

You laughed, sidling up against the armrest. “We’ll see.”

  
_**Gif by abnormal-angelgifs**_

You were able to eat half the burnt macaroni when the movie went off, Scud flipping to cartoons immediately. You put the bowl on the table, settling back on the cushions.

“I still don’t get it.”

His eyebrows rose. “About what?”

“All of it. Why would Billy lie about all that, betray everyone, planning to kill all of them but still have the fucking nerve to sleep with Sidney.”

“He did it because of her mom, if she hadn’t slept with his dad –“

“That had nothing to do with Sidney! Why’d he want to kill her for?”

“Guess cause you can’t leave behind witnesses.”

“Whatever, maybe I just don’t understand the mentality of the bad guys.”

Scud looked like he was thinking, and you wanted to laugh, make a remark about how he didn’t do that too often, but you didn’t, giving him his space and letting your attention go to the mini heroes take down the Gangreen Gang. When it cut to commercial, his hands were still on his knees, eyes glued to the floor.

“Josh, you okay?”

The sound of his name got him. “Huh?”

You smiled. “Everything all right in La La Land?”

He sat up. “Yeah, just…thinking. I mean – what makes a bad guy, Y/N?”

“What?”

“You said before that Billy was the bad guy, but why?”

“Because he was killing innocent people.”

You were confused, Scud’s voice going up an octave as he gestured between you both.

“We’ve killed people, so what, are we bad guys too?”

“To some, I’m sure we are. It’s probably all a perspective thing.”

That didn’t satisfy him. “What’s your definition of a bad guy?”

You blinked at him, thinking on it. “Um, well, someone who doesn’t have the right moral structure. Where they’d think, how would all this benefit me, only fulfilling their own desires and no one else’s? Not caring how what they’re affects others. Someone who hides things, as well as themselves, like how the vampires hide from us, Eric’s always willing to face them head on, but they run away. That’s cowardice, that’s them not wanting to come to terms with all they’ve done or how they’ll pay for it.”

“I don’t want to die either.”

“You’re not going to die, Josh.”

“You’re saying it makes them evil to run away from getting killed. I’d run too.”

“Damn it, I’m trying – you know what, this shit is too deep this late at night. You got anything sweet?”

His face perked up a little then, mischief trying to creep back in his eyes. “Besides me? I got a few glazed in my room.”

You smiled. “Of course you do, you need to invest in some Oreos or something. Expand that addiction a little bit so some of us can piggyback on it.”

He laughed. “I’ll try to keep that in mind. So you want some?”

“No, but thank you, and thanks for dinner too. It was…nice. I needed it, but now I need a shower before I pass out.”

You don’t know why you did it, but the lack of sleep had kept some of your synapses from snapping together in time. But before you questioned it, you leaned over, hugging Scud. You felt him jerk in surprise, before cautiously wrapping an arm around you to hug back.

“For the record, I think you’re a pretty damn good guy, Josh. You can be annoying as hell, nerdy with a doughnut fetish that sometimes dresses like a young Corey Feldman, but good.”

You felt him laugh in your hair, and you couldn’t help the one that escaped you, his cheek coming to rest on your head.

“Fuck you too, Halfa girl.”

He hadn’t said it to be mean, only joking as he always did, but it was a reminder. The two of you different species, not meant to coexist except like this, only to take down the enemy, and your spirit dipped. You pulled away, avoiding his eyes.

“Goodnight Josh.”

“Night, Y/N.”

Closing your door, you began to strip, heading to the meager bathroom. But you were grateful for it, it was tiny, but it was yours and yours alone. After that pow wow, you couldn’t work anymore tonight, you just wanted to be clean and go to bed. The water was close to heaven, relaxing you, easing the tension from your body and you sighed in contentment. Watching the suds wash down the drain your mind went to Scud. You felt ashamed, you joked about it all the time, but you really wish he wasn’t here. He had a family somewhere, the opportunity to lead a normal life, but he chose to stay, and you couldn’t understand why. And with him at such a close proximity lead to moments like tonight, your brain betraying you, wandering around to what those hands could do when not playing with a blowtorch. A winding began to build in your stomach, and for a second you thought to ease it, but you pushed it down, exiting the shower. There was no point thinking those things. You lingered, enjoying the air on your skin. You ran the towel over your hair, starting to rummage for something to sleep in when your door was flung open.

“Hey, Y/N, you won’t believe it, I actually found…half a pack…of Oreos.”

His eyes widened, staring at you and your body, as you fell to the floor scrambling for the towel, blanket, anything to cover yourself with.

“Get out, Scuzzbucket!”

“I’m so sorry, I thought –“

“GET OUT!”

He turned, fumbling away, you slamming the door after him. You began to cry, he saw, your nudity revealing everything to him. The scars you hid, he saw, making you more of a freak than you already were. You avoided him after that, a feat in itself with the lack of hiding places in the warehouse. Lucky for you Eric had returned from wherever the hell he went.

“So you found him?”

His face remained stoic, but after the years around him you caught the miniscule slacking in his shoulders, sad, defeated. “He’s one of them.”

You tilted your head. “One of them?”

Giving you a hard, pointed look you understood. “Is there anything we can do?”

“I’m working on something, but if it comes down to it, we’ll have to put him out of that misery.”

You nodded, not wanting to think too much on that scenario. You cared about Abe, the same as you cared about Eric, the three of you making some bizarre blended family, taking you in off the streets after finding you drinking blood from stray animals. They had weaned you, adjusting the same serum Eric used, it never left you fully satisfied but you had come a long way from wandering dark corners of the city feeling like a schizophrenic. They studied you, for some reason Eric aged much quicker than you, it had been twenty years and you still looked as they found you at seventeen but Eric looked fully grown. The difference making all of you wonder, you were raised by your grandmother until she passed never revealing what had happened if it had been your mother or father that was killed, that was bitten, treating you as normal as she could though feeding you animal blood like chocolate milk. It had been so good to be found, to be understood, and not condemned for what you couldn’t help. And you didn’t want to lose one of those people who helped you feel like that.

“We’ll do whatever we have to.”

The abrupt words surprised him, nodding before heading towards the workshop.

“Mayday! Mayday! Guys! Please, I’m having problems here!”

You groaned rolling over in the mass of blankets, hearing what had to be Scud’s voice. Of course he was having problems, he himself was a problem. You chose to ignore him until you heard static crank from the CB.

“Someone, please, there might be four or five in pursuit! I don’t have enough UV bullets to take them! I need backup or I’m going to be a fuckin’ snack for the leeches!”

Jumping up, you pushed the covers away running to the radio. “Where are you?”

“Thank God, Y/N, I thought I was gonna be vampire chow.”

“Where the hell are you, Josh?”

He gave his location and grabbing all the weapons you could carry you went. You could fight, have had to fight, but if there were five you’d need some help. It wasn’t hard to locate him, finding his van, and a pile of ashes next to it, following the trail you found him at the dead end of an alley, UV gun thrust out.

“Back up, ya fuckin’ suckheads! You saw what I did to your friends, one pull and you’re ass is ash.”

They were distracted by Scud, enough so that you were able to extract the silver blade and embed it into one of the vampire’s hearts from behind. Pulling the blade out you watch the skin turn brittle and gray.

“Well, well, one of the half breeds has come out to play. Should’ve known when the blood bag came to us one of you would follow.”

Came to them? Scud had willfully looked for vampires? That wasn’t his game, he stayed within the confines of his van only acting as a decoy if Eric was nearby.

“Tell you what, half breed, you’re much better to look at than your mentor, we could both drain this waste, and you could come back with me. I can guarantee that you’ll have a better place in our ranks than where you are now.”

Your brain was still stuck on Scud looking for these fuckers, only when a hand was held out did you move. Plunging in the blade without a second thought, you watched the fledging fall to the ground, limp. You turned to Scud, expressionless.

“Is that all of them?”

He scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, thanks for coming to my rescue, Y/N. I owe you one.”

You clenched your jaw, anger surging, wiping the blade down you put it away, heading back for the van.

“Hey!”

You ignored him, hearing him jog to catch up to you, tugging you on the arm. “Will you wait a damn second?”

You did wait, long enough to turn to him and smack him to the ground.

“The fuck was that for, Y/N?”

“For being a fucking idiot! All this time you had the common sense to keep a distance and now you suddenly want to hunt for them on your own? You got that big of a death wish, Scud?”

He knew he fucked up, you never called him Scud. His shoulders came up to his ears, covering the flaming red tips, eyes not looking at you as he shifted foot to foot. He looked ashamed, like a little boy, something you didn’t think he was capable of.

“No, I needed to talk to you. You keep dodging me, Y/N, and I knew this would bring you out.”

“Are you fucking insane? What if I hadn’t been there to hear your distress call? You’d be fucking dead right now.”

“I knew you were there.”

“I was half asleep, what if I figured Eric would get you. Or if I downright ignored you, what if I thought it was a joke, or thought it was a dream, or what if I just didn’t care?”

He smiled sheepishly then. “Glad to know you do.”

  
_**Gif by abnormal-angelgifs**_

You huffed, ready to walk away again, when he held onto your wrist. “Please, Y/N, I can’t take this. You’re my only friend, I’m sorry I didn’t knock and shit. But I can’t deal with you ignoring me. You’re the one thing that makes me feel normal through all this.”

You laughed, the sound coming out as a mad cackle.

“Normal? Normal! You are fucking normal, Josh! I’m the one that’s abnormal! It was easy to pretend…then you go busting in like the idiot you are. Looking at me, seeing me, those…marks. I get it, we both know what I am, that I’m one of the monsters, but having you know that I’m weak. That I’m ugly underneath –“

“You’re no fucking monster, Y/N. And you’re sure as hell ain’t ugly. I’m not gonna listen to you talk about yourself like that.”

You exhaled, not believing him. “Get in the van so we can get back.”

You went to open the side door, Scud’s hands latching over the handle. He was too close.

“Move.”

He did, eyes watching face, flinching when you felt him touch your cheek. “You’re beautiful, all of you. The moment I saw you, when you were nursing me, I’d come in and out of consciousness waiting to see my angel, you.”

He’s so full of shit, push him away.

But you didn’t, couldn’t, feeling a tear slip out he caught it, brushing it away before letting his lips move over the spot.

“Maybe I’m the monster.”

“What –“

He slid opened the door, coaxing you into the van. He climbed in after you, hands going to the bottom of his shirt and yanking it off. You knew his scars intimately well, Eric dragging him in near death making you sew him up; they were a harsh pink, contrasting the pale skin, crisscrosses layered on one another, you winced wishing you had done a better job. They reached all the way up to his chest, as if the vampires were trying to rip him open, pull up his skin like someone opening an envelope. You reached out, letting your fingers trace over the lines, his eyes shut under your touch.

“You’re not a monster, Scud, and you’re not ugly or weak. You fought, you didn’t do this to yourself.”

“Josh.”

“Huh?”

“You always call me Josh. You’re the only one that does. I don’t want you to stop doing it.”

You snorted. “I don’t ALWAYS call you Josh.”

He smirked, and you were glad to see the cockiness coming back. “Fine, you always call me Josh except when you’re mad at me.”

You smiled, about to make your way to the front when you were pulled back down. “I care more about you then I’m willing to admit.”

You sighed, giving up, letting his hands stay on you, not surprised when his mouth slotted over yours, allowing yourself to kiss him harder, helping him remove your clothes. You were nervous, not sure how this was going to work. You knew this part, but after. You didn’t talk to Abe or Eric about this, mainly because you never were intimate with anything that wasn’t battery operated and you wondered if by some fate you could get knocked up. It didn’t seem likely, and you didn’t object when Scud pushed into you, your head lolling at the intrusion. He kept himself up on his elbows, shaggy hair tickling your face as he adjusted to the feel of you.

“Fuck.”

You laughed, pushing the hair out of his eyes. “Thought we were, Stud.”

He choked on a laugh, kissing you. Soon you were panting along with him, that friction building a fire in your stomach, but then you were clutching at him for different reasons. Too close. The smell of sweat beading on his body, the smell of hormones and testosterone peaking, the smell as his blood heated. You were cursing yourself for forgetting the serum, you were empty, hungry, and you needed to get away from Scud. You pushed at him, backing away from his pumping hips.

“Josh, stop! I can’t…there wasn’t time…I might bite you.”

He stopped, face dropping to your neck while his breath went in your ear.

“I’m sorry.”

He felt him shake his head. “Let me grab something.”

With one hand on your hip he leaned over to grab his pants, gathering his lighter and a switchblade.

“The fuck, Josh, you going to kill me about it?”

He smiled. “Nope. I know what you’ll say, but I have thought about this a few times, some occasions when my hand wasn’t down my pants but I want to do this for you.”

He was still inside you, his words and throbbing member adding you with extra warmth.

“You’ve thought about me taking blood from you?”

He shrugged, playing it off, but you saw the red come on his skin. He flicked open the blade, sanitizing it with the lighter, letting it cool as it glided on the skin of his chest, the smell of his blood hitting you like a car crash.

“Take it, Y/N, you can have it while I have you.”

You moaned, him leaning to kiss you, tongue moving against yours a few times, then moving so you had access to the wound. A part of you wanted to resist, Scud was your friend or something more complicated now, but you didn’t want to hurt him. Then again he was offering this to you. Scud started to thrust in harder, the blood gathering on the cut before dripping down on you. The smell could only be described as woodsy, it reminded you of trees after a hard rain, something savory, that you hadn’t known you had been craving. You let your tongue dart out, licking the cut, hearing Scud moan as you did, he picked up your hips signaling your legs to wrap around his waist as he drove in deeper. You lapped the blood, slurping at it, your walls flexing around him as he cradled your head to his chest. God, he was spicy, pungent, sweet, like cinnamon and sage, something that didn’t together but did. The aching inside your stomach was nearly filled, and you hung onto him, yanking his hair and guzzling him. Suddenly you felt a click inside of you, like a puzzle pieces being fitted together. Not long after Scud’s hips began to jerk spastically, his come coating your insides as his weight fell on top of you. He rolled on his side, catching his breath as those blue eyes looked at you.

“Sorry, Y/N.”

You smiled, completely relaxed for the first time in damn near ever. You turned to him, pulling off the bandana that was wrapped on his head to press on the cut. “And what do you got to be sorry for?”

He grunted, smiling as he struggled to keep his eyes opened exhausted from the blood loss and reeling from his orgasm. “A lot of shit, but right now, not getting you off.”

“Don’t worry about it; I’ll give you a retry if you want it.”

“Look forward to it; don’t think I won’t hold you to that shit.”

Rolling your eyes, you slapped his arm. “Alright Stud, get dressed I’m taking us home.”

Scud passed out as soon as he pulled his pants on, and the panic that you taking too much blood had you speeding to the warehouse. After cutting the engine you went to the back, slapping him gently to stir him. You were able to breathe again when his eyes cracked open, blue peeking out in the dark.

“Come on, Josh, I’ll help you to bed.”

You owed him that much, now that the fear was fading you took in how great you felt. Your body like a live wire, alert, awake, refreshed – you felt alive. And it was him, and what he gave.

“You’re taking some iron tablets tonight too. We got to build your blood back up.”

“’M fine.”

“Sure you are, Scuzz.”

You let him keep his weight on you, pretty much dragging him through the building.

“You’re back.”

Whirring around you saw Eric manning the monitors. “Yeah, Josh ran into some trouble. He might need a few days to rest, he lost some blood.”

“That you took.”

You felt the color drain from your face, the matter of fact way he said it, he knew. Eric always knew, and it was better to not lie about it.

“Yes.”

“This changes things.”

“What do you mean?”

Eric leaned his head down looking at Scud’s limp body. “You set him free.”

You forced a chuckle, not knowing where this was going. “I only took a little bit; I didn’t have any serum today.”

“He’s your familiar now.”

Your jaw drop, grip slacking on Josh as he fell face first to the floor. “Oh, shit, Josh I’m sorry.”

You heard him mutter something, but he was so out of it that it was unintelligible.

“He’s not…I mean I can’t, we can’t do that.”

Eric kept observing him, not helping you pick him up the dead weight. “Not to a regular vampire’s extent, he will not be your puppet by any means. But the previous one has been broken; your smell will be on him now unless you decide to take another.”

You remembered the clicking, the calm of things falling into place.

“But I don’t want him as a familiar, I was just – he belonged to someone else?”

Eric gave a rare smirk. “Don’t let jealousy get in the way; he was consensual with you, and for different reasons. His previous owner was to give him protection, but you –“

“I protect him now. Where do you think I was?”

“That’s why he chose you, because you chose him. He’ll feel the repercussions of the decision when he wakes.”

“I don’t understand, Eric.”

“Things he’s done, what he was supposed to do. Like I’ve said, it’s changed now, he’s free. He can choose where to go from here without being compelled by his vampire.”

“Y/N?”

Looking down, you saw Scud reaching for you, eyes so out of focus, that you felt guilty for not holding back.

“You won’t be able to compel him; he’ll have to face himself alone.”

You ran a hand through the messy strands, his cheek seeking out your touch.

“No, not alone.”

**[Hope I did okay, I’m not sure how familiars are made in the marvel universe. To me it seemed like all the human had to do was pledge their allegiance and get inked, but I wanted something better so I House of Nighted it.]**


End file.
